For The Colony, stretch of 121 is road to riches

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ROSE BACA/Staff

The Colony's Top Golf is set to open in November and will add to the retail near the Grandscape development. The development is 400-plus acres off Highway 121 and seeks to attract retail, restaurant and other business.

An east-west portion of State Highway 121 that runs through The Colony has long remained relatively undeveloped.

But residents and visitors are starting to see a change to the look and feel of the city as development progresses along the highway.

Nebraska Furniture Mart is already under construction at the Grandscape development, a 400-acre lot that will seek retail, restaurant, hotels and other business as it moves forward.

“For a long time, there were a lot of empty lots on 121,” said Keri Samford, the city’s economic development director.

“Just with the developments taking place, it will really change the front door of The Colony itself.”

Nebraska Furniture Mart is touted to be the country’s largest furniture store when it opens in early 2015.

It will be the first Texas location for the store, and it’s the anchor tenant and developer of Grandscape, a $1.5 billion project along the Sam Rayburn Tollway between Spring Creek Parkway and Plano Parkway.

Top Golf, a 65,000-square-foot, three-level golf entertainment complex, will open in early November at 3760 Blair Oaks, and the Houston-based Spec’s Wine, Spirits & Finer Foods opened Oct. 10.

Officials at The Colony are preparing for a period of development that will likely change the landscape of the city.

“We’ve already seen a huge increase in interest in commercial property, in particular on the 121 corridor,” Samford said.

New business in the area will join the already established Cascades at The Colony, a development that has two hotels and a warehouse.

The project will soon kick off its second phase with an office complex on the eastern city limits of the corridor, Samford said.

Rooms To Go has also purchased property along the corridor at South Colony Boulevard.

Nearby residents expressed concern when plans for Nebraska Furniture Mart and the Grandscape development were initially announced.

Residents of Plano’s Kings Ridge neighborhood, the closest residential area to the development, have been the most vocal about their concerns.

The biggest resident concern is whether the development is going to have enough buffering to separate itself from the residential area, said Bill Kula, communications chairman for Kings Ridge Homeowners Association.

Katie Rager, Nebraska Furniture Mart spokesperson, said representatives of Grandscape and the city have met with the association throughout the process and are still working on providing details.

Residents of The Colony have been happy with the project so far, said Tod Maurina, assistant city manager.

“The general sentiment is that it’s a good thing,” said John Daugherty, president of the Legends Texas Homeowners Association, the nearest HOA in The Colony.

Daugherty pointed out that the project has led to improved traffic mobility in the area.

“If it weren’t for that development, the overpass on 121 at South Colony Boulevard wouldn’t be getting done,” he said. “For us, that’s a benefit.”

Nebraska Furniture Mart will attract between 6 million to 8 million visitors a year, Samford said.The city’s sales tax revenue also could double, she said.

According to the city, the furniture store will bring 2,000 jobs, of which only several hundred will be taken by current Nebraska Furniture Mart employees who relocate to Texas.

Top Golf will bring another 450 jobs, of which 100 will be full-time positions, said Top Golf spokesperson Adrienne Browne.

The economic boom is transforming the city from its “roots as a bedroom community into a true destination location,” Mayor Joe McCourry said.

For city officials, the Grandscape development is just the first part of the city’s long-term plans.

“Along 121, it’s going to develop,” Maurina said, “and it just needs to be managed properly.”

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